Front Porches
by dleduddet
Summary: Kate and Sawyer get off the island and manage to have a good life together, though they do have their struggles. Now it is time to reflect. 1 shot.


Hey everybody! I was inspired to write this story when I heard this beautiful song by Rise Against on the radio the other day. It right away gave me the idea for this story so I hope it lives up to the song... It's a one shot and it's really short, but please read and review. I hope you enjoy!

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_We live on front porches and swing life away  
We get by just fine here on minimum wage  
If love is a labor I'll slave 'til the end  
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand_

_I'll show you mine if you show me yours first  
Let's compare scars I'll tell you whose is worse  
Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words_

_-Rise Against_

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Time seems to move slowly, especially when it is spent in the way you want with the one and only love of your life. Fulfilled dreams are hard to come by. For some people, everything just seems so easy, but try telling that to the people with the skeletons in their closets. The people who have struggled and had a hard time getting to the places they want to be in their lives can often be the most interesting people you will ever meet.

Coming home from a place where you were a free spirit, that is often the hardest thing to deal with in life. Back in a world where you suddenly remember that you have no friends, only enemies. Kate Austen is an interesting person. She knows why she is alone, she just doesn't want to be anymore. She has found love on a deserted island. Love. Something she had only heard about, never expecting to experience it.

Kate sits alone in a prison cell and this man, this man who has given her this unexpected feeling of love, remains on the other side of the planet. For, even though it was two years ago that a plane had fallen out of the sky, here laws are still laws. Yet somehow, they manage. They hold out, and the day the judge gives his sentence, he is there for her.

Now, thirty years later, he is still here for her. Sitting on a porch step together, they simply reflect. Reflect on all the good fortunes that life has given them, along with the bad things. Scars still remain however. Scars of murder. Sawyer feels it necessary to brush the graying hair out of his wife's face when he finds her in tears. He always has.

Now as she sips on her coffee, he kisses her on top of that head of graying hair and glances down at the first page of the photo album laying across her lap.

The first pages are filled with what he remembers as the happiest time of his life. Getting down on his knee and asking the love of his life to make it official and be his wife, well it surprised him. This was one of the easiest things he had ever done.

Kate smiles as she moves Sawyers hand off of the corner of her favorite picture. The wedding day. Even as a young girl, Kate had been someone who never expected to see herself getting married. Now the day of her wedding, it all seems to have snuck up on her. She feels her heart pounding as she walks down the aisle, a vision in white. Sawyer is blushing. That makes her heart skip a beat and now is the moment that she is sure she wants to do this.

Kate leans into Sawyer's chest and he wraps his arm around her slender waist. He is looking forward to different picture in the photo album. Pictures of a beautiful baby girl are scattered across the fading paper. Sawyer remembers a happy day, this day he brought his baby girl home for the first time.

Fear is something that before this, he associated with pain. Physical pain. This was a new kind of fear. Fear that he was now in charge of a life other than his own. There was no way on Earth he would be able to even approach this new task set in front of him. Bringing Sarah home was the hardest part. Now, with no hospital around to help the two young parents, there were so many risks. What if he dropped her? What if he forgot about her? She looked so small and fragile. What if he held her too tightly, and crushed her tiny body?

This picture was from the day that he had expressed these feelings to Kate. He smiles to himself and remembers her sweet laughter filling the room as she assures him that everything will, of course, be fine. She has faith in him.

With a twinge in his heart he turns the page and sees pictures of a small family standing in front of a trailer. This brings only a feeling of guilt. These were the days when he felt love even though there was so much struggle. Sawyer remembers a loss of pride as he watches his home being sold so he can feed his family. Minimum wage can be hard to contend with. He remembers sitting on the steps of his new home, a trailer, just as he is doing now, as his wife assures him that they don't need fancy things to get by, only each other.

Kate turns another page and brushes her finger over the pictures of a beautiful young girl in a graduation cap and gown. Her daughter looks so happy this day as she begins her real life and Kate could not be prouder. She laughs to herself as her husband standing with Sarah makes funny poses in front of a small high school and Sarah holding up her diploma smiles for the camera.

Kate and Sawyer now close their book and lean back into each other. Love is an unspoken bond between them and reflecting on a well spent life together reminds them of how things could have turned out had they not tried their hardest to get where they wanted to be. A car drives up and a beautiful girl walks up the driveway, her belly swollen with new life. Kate smiles at Sawyer and now they go inside together preparing to reflect with their daughter, who will now experience her own struggles and happy times.

_Fin._


End file.
